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“Come on,” Simone said. “Let’s get this over with so you can go buy some flowers.”
“Flowers. Right. You think that’ll work?”
“It’ll work,” she assured him.
Luke took a deep breath. Yeah. It’d definitely be fine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE WALLS WERE CLOSING in on her. Even in this house with too much space and too many rooms, the walls were squeezing in, making it hard to breathe. “Where is he?” she whispered.
“Stop pacing,” Jamie ordered. “Eric will be here.”
“He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. Eric’s never late.”
“Well, he’s had a hell of a day. Cut him some slack.”
She stopped in her tracks to glare at him. “How can you be so relaxed?”
“Tessa,” he groaned, letting his head fall back on the couch. He put his feet up on the coffee table and stretched out. “I wanted to tell him, remember?”
“But that was stupid! He’s so angry, just like I said he would be.”
“Well, right now, he’s angry because we lied to him.”
“Oh, he’s pissed about you and your magically disappearing pants, too.”
He opened one eye, but closed it without responding. Tessa resumed her pacing, trying to draw a steady breath to keep the walls at bay. “Fifteen minutes,” she said when the clock ticked to six-fifteen.
“Well, I hope he hurries up. Chester can only cover the bar until seven.”
She breathed in and out, in and out. She knew he wasn’t gone. Eric might leave at some point, or Jamie might leave, but they’d say goodbye before they left. They wouldn’t just disappear.
Jamie raised his head. “Are you hyperventilating?”
“No. I’m breathing. I’m calming myself.”
“Sounds more like wheezing. Cut it out.”
Tessa grabbed a throw pillow from the chair and chucked it at him. “Hey!”
“Stop being so calm!” she screamed.
“Jesus Christ, Tessa. You’re losing it.”
“I know I am!” The sound of a car door slamming snapped her out of her breakdown, and Tessa rushed for the door. Eric stalked up the front walk, his face a mask of cold fury.
Folding her hands, she backed away from the door until her legs hit the coffee table. Eric stepped through the door and gave both of his siblings an equally quelling look. “Well?” he snarled. “What did you two want to discuss?”
Jamie slid his gaze toward Tessa. “You’d better ask her.”
“You know what we need to discuss. Both of you. We need to figure out what we’re doing here. What’s going to happen.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Eric countered.
“What do you mean?”
“The deal stands.”
